EFFECTS OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 47 gious or political oppression. Here was room and opportunity for all. III. The discovery of the precious metals in Mexico and South America had far-reaching effects. Before the mines were found there had often been great scarcity of gold and silver in Europe. Kings robbed the Jews, and hired pretended chemists to try to turn lead into gold. Now the treasure obtained from America enabled them to equip armies, build palaces, and make public improvements of all kinds. Thus the riches which poured in from the west gave a new impulse to the life of the Old World. IV. Intercourse with America had an immense influence on trade and navigation. Before Columbus sailed, the commerce of Europe was confined chiefly to the Mediterranean. Then little vessels crept cautiously along the shore, peddling out their petty cargoes from port to port. Now all was changed. Large and strong ships began to be built, fit to battle with Atlantic storms, and ocean commerce commenced. Trade took its first great step toward encircling the globe. We gave V. New products were obtained from America. Europe Indian corn,1 the tomato, the turkey, and the potato, for which tens of thousands of half-fed peasants were grateful. To these important articles of food should be added such luxuries as cocoa and tobacco, and such drugs, dyestuffs, and valuable woods as Peruvian bark, cochineal, logwood, and mahogany. VI. Before the discovery of America, sugar, cotton, rice, and coffee, when used at all, were imported by Europe from the Indies. Only the rich could, as a rule, afford them. Now they were either re-discovered in America, or transplanted here. In time they became cheap and plentiful, and even the poor of the Old World came to regard them as necessaries of life. VII. The material and scientific results of the discovery and settlement of America were not the only ones. Men's minds grew larger to take in a larger world. The voyage to America 1 Maize, or Indian corn, if not first introduced to Europe from America, was first practically introduced from here; so, too, was India Rubber. was like a journey to another planet. It made Europe acquainted with new races, new animals, new plants, new features of nature, new fields of enterprise. All felt that America meant opportunity. That was a great thought in some respects the greatest that had ever moved the minds and hearts of men. It roused new hope; it stimulated new and independent effort. - 44. Summary. - The period embraced in this section covers the greater part of a century. In it we have three classes of discoveries and explorations: 1. Those of the Spaniards; these were confined to the south. They comprised Florida, the Pacific, the Mississippi and Mexico. 2. Those of the French; these related to the river St. Lawrence and to expeditions to the eastern coast of Florida and vicinity. 3. Those of the English; these included explorations on the coast at the far north, those of Drake on the Pacific, but, more important than all, those on that part of the Atlantic coast then called Virginia. We have seen how Ponce de Leon and De Soto attempted to conquer Florida. We have witnessed the struggle between the French and the Spaniards for possession of that country, and have seen it end with the triumph of the Spaniards, and the founding of St. Augustine (1565), the oldest town in the United States. On the other hand, we have seen that the English expeditions of Frobisher and Gilbert, with Raleigh's project of a Virginia colony, all failed, and that the country was left with no white occupants but the Spaniards. Finally, we have considered the effects of the contact of the white and the Indian races, and have briefly set forth the important results of the discovery of America on Europe. GOSNOLD'S EXPEDITION. 49 III. "It cannot be denied that with America and in America a new era commences in human affairs." — DANIEL WEBster. PERMANENT ENGLISH AND FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. FRENCH EXPLORATION OF THE WEST. WARS WITH THE INDIANS AND WITH THE FRENCH. COLONIAL LIFE. GENERAL VIEW OF THE COLONIES. (1607-1763.) 45. Opening of the Seventeenth Century; Gosnold's Expedition. The seventeenth century opened with new, and, in the end, successful efforts on the part of both the English and the French to establish colonies on this continent. In 1602 Gosnold, an English navigator, set sail for Virginia. Instead of taking the usual circuitous route by way of the Canaries and the West Indies, he struck boldly across the Atlantic.1 By this course he saved nearly a thousand miles in distance, and at least a week in sailing time. He landed on a cape on the New England coast, which he named Cape Cod, from the abundance of cod-fish found there. Then doubling the cape, and sailing south, he reached Cuttyhunk Island,2 at the entrance to Buzzard's Bay. On that island he built the first house erected in Massachusetts, intending to leave a colony there; but when he had got a cargo of sassafras root and cedar logs, the settlers determined to go back 1 Gosnold sailed from Falmouth on the southwest coast of England. Contrary winds drove him to the Azores; thence he sailed a little north of west until he reached the New England coast. See Map of America, page 35. 2 See Map on page 78. with him. The sassafras root was then in great demand in England as a fashionable medicine and cure-all. Gosnold counted on a handsome profit on it. But Sir Walter Raleigh accused him of trespassing on his land,1 and seized the cargo, much to the disappointment and disgust of the industrious sassafras-diggers. The expedition, however, had this result: it showed Englishmen a shorter and more direct route to America, and it kept up an interest in the country. I. VIRGINIA (1607). 46. England's Need of America; the King grants a Charter to settle Virginia. The population of England was then small, but many were out of employment. There were two reasons for this: first, thousands of disbanded soldiers had returned from the European wars, and could get nothing to do at home; next, many farmers, finding that wool-growing paid better than raising wheat or barley, had converted their farms into sheeppastures. This threw multitudes of laborers out of work. Everywhere there was distress. So men naturally turned their eyes toward America. Such an opportunity seemed providential. As one preacher declared, Virginia was the door which God had opened to England. 2 Two companies were organized to send out emigrants. One was called the London, the other, the Plymouth Company. The charter given by King James I. granted to the London Company the exclusive right to settle in Southern Virginia between Cape Fear and the Potomac. To the Plymouth Company he gave the entire control of Northern Virginia between the eastern end of Long Island and the northern limit of the mainland of Nova Scotia.3 The object of the companies was trade and exploration. 1 It will be remembered that Raleigh's charter gave him control of the American coast from north latitude 34° to 45°. See Paragraph 29. 2 See definition of charter in note on page 24. *See map facing page 51. 8 The London Company controlled the territory between the 34th and 38th degrees of north latitude; the Plymouth, that between the 41st and 45th degrees. |